The town only had the most basic buildings: an apothecary, a low-grade equipment shop, a personal storage, and so on. There were only a few NPCs, and most of the tasks they gave were low-level gathering quests—hunting certain animals, collecting animal pelts, herbs, ores, and the like. The rewards upon completion were either experience or money.
Nie Yan went to the apothecary and bought three low-grade instant recovery health potions, each restoring thirty HP instantly and costing one copper coin. The shop only sold basic health potions; potions above intermediate grade could only be made by alchemists.
After buying three low-grade health potions, he had one copper coin left.
Nie Yan headed outside, and once out of town, he sprinted toward the chest's respawn point, giving a wide berth to any monsters he encountered to keep a safe distance.
The place he was heading to was a level 5 monster area. Given his current level, the danger was extremely high, but his current experience was level 0 with 0%; even if he died, he wouldn't lose any experience.
After crossing two level 1 monster areas, one level 3 monster area, and one level 4 monster area, which took over ten minutes, Nie Yan finally arrived at the level 5 wildcat monster spawn area.
Observing the surroundings, it was a dense meadow with lush green grass reaching waist height. Looking further into the meadow, there was a tall willow tree in the center, standing out starkly in the open field.
He was not far from that silver chest now, and Nie Yan's heart began to tighten with tension.
The wildcats spawning here were level 5, not something Nie Yan could match at his current level.
Occasionally, a wildcat or two would pass by, and Nie Yan quickly concealed himself.
Thieves had a class talent that increased stealth effectiveness—it was a passive effect, making it harder for other creatures to spot them while hiding.
At the same time, he could also use Stealth.
Nie Yan calculated using the Stealth level difference formula: after activating Stealth, the safe distance between him and a wildcat was two yards. That meant, while in Stealth, if he got within two yards of a wildcat, he would be detected. Between two and three yards was a buffer zone where detection was possible; beyond three yards was absolutely safe.
In his previous life, Nie Yan had played as a Thief for ten years, honing his Thief skills to perfection, and judging distances by sight was no challenge for him.
The grass in the distance rustled slightly, and Nie Yan's expression changed as he entered Stealth.
A wildcat as big as a wolfdog emerged from the grass, its sharp eyes scanning the surroundings. Finding nothing unusual, it crossed the open space ahead and slipped into another patch of grass.
Only after confirming that the wildcat had gone far did Nie Yan dare to continue creeping forward.
Beneath the willow tree was an open area about ten yards in diameter; a silver-white treasure chest sat quietly under the willow, while six or seven wildcats roamed the space.
It would take at least a team of twenty level-3 players to clear out these level-5 wildcats.
Getting that treasure chest was no easy task.
Nie Yan observed the movement patterns of these wildcats from the grass, trying to find a safe path to reach the willow tree.
These wildcats' movement routes followed certain patterns.
After watching for a while, Nie Yan packed all his equipment into his backpack and put on the novice gear that offered no defense—these novice items sold for 0 copper coins at NPC stores and were the kind of gear no one would bother picking up off the ground.
The death penalty of Faith, losing one level every time you die, and a random piece of equipment will drop. If the gear I just bought gets dropped, that'd be too bad. As for the novice gear, if it drops, it drops—wearing it is just for coverage anyway.
Nie Yan stealthed and slowly moved toward the willow tree. After walking for about ten seconds, he stopped, held his breath. A wildcat passed by from the front, left, and right, each about two yards away from him.
After stopping in place for six seconds, Nie Yan continued forward, carefully controlling the distance from each wildcat.
Little by little, he got closer to the treasure chest.
Nie Yan's heartbeat quickened slightly. He understood that if he could get that skill book at level zero, it would be extremely important for his future development.
Another two wildcats approached in Nie Yan's direction.
Nie Yan quickly stopped. The two wildcats passed by from not far away, brushing past him at just about two yards, sending a chill down his spine.
The duration of Stealth lasted a total of two minutes. Time ticked by little by little, with only thirty-two seconds left before Stealth ended. Nie Yan's emotions began to waver.
There was no time left. Nie Yan slightly quickened his pace.
A wildcat not far from Nie Yan stirred, detecting his presence. It locked onto Nie Yan, bared its sharp teeth, and let out a hoarse, low growl.
Damn, I've been spotted！
The wildcat leaped up and pounced at Nie Yan.
The wildcat attacked quickly, and Nie Yan's movement speed couldn't keep up at all, but he still relied on the reflexes honed from his previous life, sidestepping to dodge.
The character's basic actions include sidestepping, rolling, jumping, and more. Players can use these actions within the system's framework to evade attacks.
The wildcat's sharp claws brushed past Nie Yan's throat by less than a hair's breadth, missing its target.
Nie Yan barely dodged, but two more wildcats pounced on him from the side. One clawed a gash across his back, while the other sank its teeth into his arm.
It's over.
In this situation, using a health potion wouldn't help.
-68, -32, two damage numbers floated above Nie Yan's head. His health hit zero, and he collapsed to the ground.
The scene shifted. Nie Yan resurrected at the cemetery in Trak Town.
He had activated his Stealth skill too early, and when its duration was about to run out, he got too anxious and gave away his position—that was one reason for the failure.
Nie Yan summed up the lesson from his death. He checked his equipment—his gloves had dropped, but they were just starter gear, so losing them wasn't a big deal. As for experience points, he was still Level 0, 0% anyway.
He had fully expected to die, which was why he dared to go to the level-5 monster zone.
Nie Yan set off again. After leaving Trak Town, he continued heading toward the wildcat respawn point.
When he reached the edge of the clearing again, Nie Yan noticed that the wildcats' patrol routes had changed a bit. Earlier, he had lured them over near the treasure chest, and they had gathered around where he died, making it even harder for him to get the silver chest.
The wildcats' roaming area kept shifting. An idea struck Nie Yan—he could risk leading the wildcats away first, then resurrect and sneak back to open the chest using Stealth.
About three yards away from the wildcats, he canceled his Stealth skill, and his figure slowly became visible.
The five wildcats in the area all spotted Nie Yan at once and chased after him.
Nie Yan sprinted away, but his movement speed was far too slow compared to the wildcats. They quickly caught up. One wildcat leaped and pinned him to the ground, while the others surrounded him and killed him.
A white flash passed, and Nie Yan was back at the cemetery in Tralac Town. He had lost a leg guard.
After resurrecting, he left the town once again, darting toward that direction. Over ten minutes later, he arrived at the edge of that clearing.
The wild cats were a bit farther from the treasure chest now. After calculating a route, Nie Yan's eyes lit up—this time, there should be no problem.
Activating stealth, he approached the silver treasure chest. After moving for over twenty seconds, he stopped in place. Two wild cats passed by from behind him and gradually wandered off.
All the wild cats were relatively far from Nie Yan, about five yards away. Finally safe, he quickened his pace and reached the silver treasure chest. He still had thirty-six seconds of stealth remaining—six more seconds than expected.
Nie Yan crouched down and opened the treasure chest. He could maintain stealth while opening it.
System: Opening treasure chest. Progress: 20%... 50%...
A wild cat wandered nearby and stopped about two yards away from Nie Yan.
Nie Yan's heartbeat unconsciously quickened. Calm down, stay calm, he kept reassuring himself, and his heartbeat gradually steadied.
That wild cat looked around, didn't notice anything, and turned away.
Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
System: Treasure chest opened successfully. Time taken: 27 seconds.
Nie Yan opened the chest, reached inside, and felt a paper book. His heart suddenly leaped—this was it！
He took it out and looked at it.
Skill Book： Vital Strike.
Skill Description： Rogues deal additional damage by striking an enemy's vital points.
Execution Requirements： Action （requires weapon）
Skill Properties： +5 bonus to attack roll when striking a vital point. Damage is reduced when the attack deviates.
Skill Cooldown： 30 seconds.
User Restrictions： Rogues, Warriors, Paladins. Usable by any alignment.
It really is Vital Strike, a top-tier skill that can be learned at level 0！ This was the purpose of his trip. Nie Yan crumbled the skill book into a beam of white light.
Checking the skill bar, there was now an additional skill: Vital Strike！
After Nie Yan took out the Vital Strike skill book, the Silver Treasure Chest gradually faded and disappeared without a trace.
"Done. I can use the free return to town now." Nie Yan thought to himself.
When Stealth wore off, Nie Yan's figure slowly became visible. The few wild cats spotted him and pounced over.
Since there was no experience loss, dying was just a way to get back to town. Nie Yan quietly awaited his fate.
Nie Yan died and once again returned to the cemetery of Tarak Town. His novice cloth armor had dropped as well, but compared to the Vital Strike skill book, this was nothing. With Vital Strike, his leveling speed would be much faster.